Today I went out with two ladies from the Alumni Association Executive Committee (of which I am also a member). We had to pick up a few items and order some things for the upcoming banquet. We have an all-school alumni banquet every May honoring the 10 year class, 25 year class, 50 year class, and 75 year class. Any alumni can come and sometimes we get large groups of the 20 year class or some other group in addition to our "honored classes." It's actually fun being on the committee, though I'm mostly there as the person who knows Access (the Micro$oft Database program).

One of the main reasons we were out today was to see the caterer's and try the dishes that we were hoping to serve at the banquet. Our caterer this year (for the second year running) is Christopher's Restaurant from Kettering (a 'burb of Dayton). Heh, catering from Kettering - reminds me of a One Foot in the Grave joke. Anyhoo, when we got there, the chefs sat down and talked with us, and served us a nice meal of the items we'd picked. After a starter of salad (with their excellent dill house dressing), we had Chicken Francese and Harvest Pork Tenderloin, both of which were excellent. We also tried their mashed potatoes with leeks and shallots and their California medley. Two of us decided that maybe the medley wasn't what we wanted for the banquet and so we switched to baby carrots for the actual event. While the head chef was talking with us, he was bragging about their homemade soups. I asked if they made cream of broccoli and he said they did and were serving it that day. He brought me a cup of soup (and my two co-tasters their homemade mushroom bisque) to show off. Very creamy, very tasty. They also decided to show off with their desserts and asked what we wanted. As soon as they said "bread pudding" I knew what I wanted. And this HUGE piece of bread pudding with sauce and ice cream was brought to me. And it was the best bread pudding I've had this side of New Orleans. Next time judiang and elsaf come to visit, I'll see about making the detour south so they can check this place out. The actual restaurant is in a strip mall and doesn't look all that special, but the food was exemplary. And the folks working there are wonderful. I'm still full from the late lunch (I was expecting a taste, not a meal, and was pleasantly surprised by the quantity of food they offered).